Tuesday, October 13, 2009

weight loss and darkness

This morning I woke up at my usual 515am (it really sucks to be an old guy) and it is pitch dark. As I am writing this at 545am, it is still pitch dark. During the summer months, by this time the sun is out and it is warm with the birds singing. A number of my patients do their exercise outside. They do not like treadmills and other inside equipment and would much rather do their caloric burnoff outside. However, when we hit the fall and winter months, the opportunity to be outside is much less. The person will find themselves exercising less and less and weight loss will therefore become more difficult.

Many people do not like gyms. For those people, I would strongly encourage the purchase of a piece of equipment for home usage. Place a ttreadmill in front of a TV set and when it is dark outside, you have a means of caloric burnoff that can take place despite the dark and cold.

There are 2 ends of the equation: calories coming in and calories being burned off....try to work on nboth ends and do not let the dark and cold derail your exercise plans.

1 comment:

Jamila said...

Doc
I think I am a pretty healthy gal...I eat healthy during the week but eat whatever I want on the weekends. I exercise 5 days a week but at night when its dark, I tend to consume more calories. I think its a mind game...when its dark, people can't see that I'm eating so I feel its okay. I indulge in twinkies, pudding, icecream, 3 musketeer bars, etc as I do eat desert late every night. Will this bad habit catch up to me? As I sit here and comment on this blog, at 6:05 it is still pitch dark..I can see where the winter months can have an affect on the body and mind..as the cold weather nears, depression, fatigue set in..